Regardless of the eventual result for Anthropic from its clash with the Department of Defense, the buzz it has created — combined with the company’s amusing Super Bowl commercials targeting OpenAI and the rising appeal of Claude Code — has made Anthropic more favored by consumers than ever before.

An analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions from roughly 28 million U.S. consumers, carried out for TechCrunch by Indagari, a company specializing in consumer transaction analytics, reveals Claude attracting paid subscribers in unprecedented numbers.

However, as is typical with big-data studies, there are important disclaimers. While this data is significant, it does not cover every consumer. Hence, Indagari cannot determine Anthropic’s total existing or new user figures. It also omits Claude’s enterprise segment (which is its primary revenue source) and users on the free tier (those who do not pay Anthropic). Estimates for the overall number of Claude consumer users vary widely (with numbers ranging from 18 million to 30 million), but Anthropic has not shared this information. Nevertheless, a spokesperson informed TechCrunch that Claude paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year.

What stands out is that consumers opened their wallets to Claude in record numbers between January and February. Additionally, previously inactive users returned to Claude in significant numbers in February, as reported by Indagari to TechCrunch.

Indagari indicates that most of the new subscribers belong to its lowest-tier plan, “Pro” users ($20 a month, in contrast to $100 or $200 monthly).

Data up to early March confirms ongoing subscriber growth. (Data is available with a two-week delay.)

To summarize why consumers might have become significantly more aware of Claude since January: Anthropic aired a series of Super Bowl advertisements that poked fun at ChatGPT’s decision to display ads to its users — and assured that Claude would never do likewise. The advertisements were humorous and impactful (and also irked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman).

However, the larger commotion began in late January when several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Axios, started reporting on an escalating conflict between Anthropic and the DoD. The essence of the disagreement was regarding what the military could and couldn’t do with Anthropic’s AI.

Anthropic declined to permit the DoD to utilize its AI models for lethal autonomous tasks (AI with potential to harm people) or extensive monitoring of American citizens. This dispute grew more public, with Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei making a strong public declaration on February 26 in light of the DoD’s threats to jeopardize Anthropic’s business by classifying the company as a supply risk. Which the DoD followed through on. Legal actions are now underway, although a federal judge temporarily halted the department’s classification this week.

New user growth surged sharply during this time. The increase is particularly notable between the late January media reports and Amodei’s declaration on February 26.

Aside from the excitement, Claude Code and Claude Cowork — developer and productivity tools unveiled in January — have been key factors driving subscriptions. The Computer Use feature, released this week, has also triggered an uptick, according to Anthropic’s communication with TechCrunch. This feature allows Claude to operate a computer autonomously — handling clicks, scrolling, and taking independent actions. It is integrated with Dispatch, which enables users to assign tasks through their phones. These functionalities are not accessible to free-tier users.

Nonetheless, despite Anthropic’s success among U.S. consumers willing to invest in AI, Claude still trails significantly behind ChatGPT.

While OpenAI’s uninstalls surged immediately following its agreement with the DoD — a move that contrasted with Anthropic’s focus on safety — Indagari’s data indicates that OpenAI continues to draw in new paid subscribers quickly and remains the largest consumer AI platform overall.